Americana Museums Reinvent Themselves, Attract New Visitors

Shelburne Museum director Stephan Jost with some of the modern furniture pieces featured at a 2006 exhibit at the museum. The exhibition featured masterworks from Knoll, Inc., one of the pre-eminent furniture design and manufacturing companies of the 20th

Americana museums exist in many forms and many sizes across the
country, from local historical societies to the Shelburne Museum to the Smithsonian in Washington. But attendance and support of history and cultural
museums peaked in the 1970s. We talk to Carl Nold, president and CEO of
Historic New England and immediate past chairman of the American Association of
Museums, and Stephan Jost, outgoing director of the Shelburne Museum, about why many
Americana museums are having trouble attracting visitors, and what they're doing to stay relevant.

Also on the program, we talk
to Valley News political editor John Gregg about the New Hampshire Republican
Party's resurgence, and its newly elected chairman, Jack Kimball, a state Tea
Party founder. We also look at the party's efforts to redefine New Hampshire's education curriculum and bar out-of-state college
students from voting in the Granite State.